“I do.”
He swung one of the stools at the island around and sat, his folded arms on the backrest and his chin on his arms, watching her quietly while she worked.
She was a good cook. Her mother, who liked to feed people, had made certain of it. But having Dallas as an audience of one didn’t help her presentation skills in the least. As she grilled the sandwiches in the hot pan, the top slices of bread kept sliding off and the sauerkraut spilled out.
“Why don’t you tell me about your day?” she finally suggested. Anything to get her mind off the way he watched her. Besides, she was curious.
“Do you really want to hear about it?”
She paused in the act of flipping a sandwich, her spatula in the air, surprised by the question. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I was in outpatients all day. Summer colds and angina aren’t all that exciting. Most people are more interested in what comes through the emergency department.”
She got the sandwiches safely back in the pan, bottom side up, without any major disasters. “Tell me why you prefer your work at the clinic. Or you could tell me why you love being a doctor so much.”
Dallas eyed her with appreciation. “Most people don’t notice I love it.”
“Really?” How could they not? “Why else would you take up stripping to fund your degree? Wait. Let me guess.” She pointed the spatula at him. “You studied medicine because the expensive education gave you an excuse to become a stripper, which is your true calling in life.”
“Medical school did help me release my inner exhibitionist,” he mused, a smile in his eyes. “Okay. You asked for it. I love being a doctor for lots of reasons. I like solving a mystery through diagnosis. Is that lingering cough really the beginnings of lung cancer? Or is it an allergic reaction? Can it be treated naturally, allowed to run its course, or does it require more intensive therapy? I also like getting to know my patients. Most of them fascinate me. Did you know that, when I ask how much they drink, I have to double the amount most of them give me? I only have one patient I really believe answers that question honestly and she probably shouldn’t. It says a lot about her lifestyle. Or lack of a life.”
“I doubt if I could answer the question at all.” She transferred the sandwiches from the hot pan to two plates. “It’s an occupational hazard. I do a fair bit of sampling, but I can’t remember the last time I drank a whole pint.”
“Don’t worry about it. Beer is good for your kidneys and you’re probably a decade or two away from liver disease, so carry on.”
That made her laugh. She added pickles to each plate, then set Dallas’s sandwich in front of him. She dragged the second stool around the corner of the island so they sat perpendicular to each other, not side by side, so they could talk more comfortably. This was nice.
“What about you? Why did you get into brewing?” he asked. “I can totally see stripping playing a role in that decision too, by the way. Alcohol raises your basal body temperature and lowers your inhibitions. Both lead to removing your clothes.”
Didn’t she know it.
She couldn’t blame alcohol entirely for her lowered inhibitions where he was concerned, however. He’d managed to lower them all on his own—and not because he was so sexy either, although he certainly was that. It was because he’d offered her his undivided attention at a time when she’d needed it most. He’d made her feel as if she mattered to him and he cared what she thought.
The same as he was doing right now.
“I was waitressing at a bar to help put Tim through college,” she said. “I was terrible at it. One of the owners took pity on me and asked if I’d like to learn how to brew beer instead. Tim was majoring in business and he needed a project for one of his courses, so we drew up a business plan together and it grew legs from there. He was going to handle the marketing while I managed operations. When he took a job with a large company in Bozeman instead, and decided he preferred a coworker to me, I didn’t see any reason not to follow through with the plan—all I did was change the location from Bozeman to Grand, then rework the financing.” She’d wanted to get as far away from Bozeman and Sweetheart and everything Tim-related as possible, but without leaving Montana. This was her home.
“The guy was stupid.”
“He always had big dreams.”
He’d relied on Hannah for follow-through, though. Even in high school. He would never have made it through college without her pushing him, either. In hindsight, now that her heart no longer hurt quite so much, she could see how he’d likely grown to resent her. She represented where he came from. Once she’d helped him get as far as she could and was no longer useful, he didn’t like the reminder that he was a poor boy from Sweetheart, a small, rural town. It made her sad—not for herself, but for the teenagers they’d been. The boy she’d fallen in love with no longer existed. The man he’d become was someone she didn’t know. She had no reason to make excuses for him anymore.
“His big dreams aren’t what make him stupid,” Dallas said. “He took his eye off the prize. There’s his mistake.”
She flushed. The warm way he looked at her said he believed she was the prize. He made her feel like one, too. He had from the moment they met. She’d been flattered when he introduced himself to her at the Bar-No Sweetheart Ranch, but she’d been too wrapped up in her insecurities to believe she deserved the attention he gave her. She’d convinced herself he was attracted to the fake, happy Hannah she pretended to be. That all he wanted was sex and any warm body would do.
And yet, here he was. Sitting and sharing a meal with her. Discussing their work at the end of the day. This was how things should be when two adults were attracted to each other. Every breath she drew—every glance in his direction—left her dizzy with hyperawareness. Dallas was a man, not a boy.
She wasn’t a girl anymore, either.
*
Dallas
Dallas added liquidsoap to the hot water and washed the dishes while Hannah changed clothes. She’d cooked, so cleanup was only fair.
He had no trouble believing that she’d put her ex-boyfriend through school. The guy’s dreams might be big, but starting a brewery business from scratch had apparently proven too big for him. The woman he’d left her for would undoubtedly be someone who could help him further his career, too.